Results 1 - 20 of 190
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: Bill Richardson Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Balance: Faith and Works | Not Specified | Bill Richardson | 231153 | ||
Perfect Sense of Balance -- A Worthy but Difficult Goal from the Introductions to these Books, of the New King James Version Galations The Galatians, having launced their Christian experience by faith, seem content to leave their voyage of faith and chart a new course based on works--a course Paul finds disturbing. His letter to the Galatians is a vigorous attack against the gospel of works and defense of the gospel of faith. Paul begins by setting forth his credentials as an apostle with a message from God: blessing comes from God on the basis of faith, not law. The law declares men guilty and imprisons them; faith sets men free to enjoy liberty in Christ. But liberty is not license. Freedom in Christ means freedom to produce the fruits of righteousness through a Spirit-led lifestyle. James Faith without works cannot be called faith. "Faith without works is dead," Chapter 2:26, and a dead faith is worse than no faith at all. Faith must work, it must produce, it must be visible. Verbal faith is not enough; mental faith is insufficient. Faith must be there, but must be more. It must inspire action. Throughout his epistle to Jewish believers, James integrates true faith and everyday practical experience by stressing that true faith must manifest itself in works of faith. Faith endures trials. Trials come and go, but a strong faith will face them head-on and develop endurance. Faith understands temptations. It will not allow us to consent to our lust and slide into sin. Faith obeys the Word. It will not merely hear and not do. Faith produces doers. Faith harbors no prejudice. For James, faith and favoritism cannot coexist. Faith displays itself in works. Faith is more than mere words; it is more than knowledge; it is demonstrated by obedience; and it overtly responds to the promises of God. Faith controls the tongue. This small but immensely powerful part of the body must be held in check. Faith can do it. Faith acts wisely. It gives us the ability to choose wisdom that is heavenly and to shun wisdom that is earthly. Faith produces separation from the world and submission to God. It provides us with the ability to resist the Devil and humbly draw near to God. Finally, faith waits patiently for the coming of the Lord. Through trouble and trial it stifles complaining. I'm making preparations to start a new Wed nite Bible Class in which we're going to tackle a rather ambitious goal, a Survey of the NT. During my research tonite, I discovered the perfect way of putting into words what I've been trying to explain. Paul makes it very clear that we can never, ever even come close to earning our way to Heaven by works of faith. Our attitude MUST be one of gratitude that God extends Mercy and Grace and indeed that is a major requirement. Although at the same time, we must also understand this faith as Paul describes MUST also produce works as James describes in his epistle. No, works is not required to save us; it's required as proof that our faith is genuine, to prove our faith is real and productive in the Name of Lord. I beleive Jesus described this best with His Parable of the Vine and the branches in... John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I AM THE VINE, YOU ARE THE BRANCHES. HE WHO ABIDES IN ME, AND I IN HIM, BEARS MUCH FRUIT; FOR WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING. 6 IF ANYONE DOES NOT ABIDE IN ME, HE IS CAST OUT AS A BRANCH AND IS WITHERED; AND THEY GATHER THEM AND THROW THEM INTO THE FIRE, AND THEY ARE BURNED. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (All caps are mine above for emphasis.) I'd love to discuss with you all. It seems the NKJV team read the original transcripts and understood it this way. Is there some other way to interpret this relationship between Faith and Works based on that Faith? Looking forward to some good discussion; Go with God in all His Ways, Bill |
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2 | astrology, christmas magi (astronomers) | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230637 | ||
As you say, the Bible does clearly teach against our consulting mediums and people of that sort. And yet we do have this wonderful story of wise men visiting our Lord soon after His birth, WITH specific assistance from God so as to save the baby from execution. And to save the wise men from probably losing their lives so as to keep the news of this whole event from spreading any further. So how do we handle this star business leading the wise men to their destination? I can only respond by saying it's in the same category with the Lord's leading of the Israelite nation by cloud in the daytime and a pillar of fire at nightime. We could compare this phenomenon to Moses parting the Red Sea with his staff and closing at his choosing to destroy the Pharoah's army. These are all extrodinary exceptions to God's Physical Law of Nature which He Started when He Created the whole universe. He did it again with the burning bush while talking to Moses. Then we have the other wonderful miracles from Jesus and His Apostles. We have the other miracles of God's prophets in the Old Testament. All of these are in direct but temporary opposition to the Laws of Physics and Nature as we know them. So we're forced to accept this manifestation of God's Power once again. As miracles go, don't you think this was a wonderful way for God to show off his son. Both to the wise men of the world AND to humble servants such a shepards. We don't really have much to go on as to how the wise men figured out this star was worth following so once again we just accept God's Wisdom which is so far above our own. Go with God in all things my friend, Bill |
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3 | is there a purgatory | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230644 | ||
First of all let's define the word or concept. From my dictionary: Purgatory 1) is the intermediate state after death for expiatory purification; a place or state of punishment wherein according to Roman Catholic doctrine the souls of those who die in God's grace may make satisfaction for past sins and so become fit for heaven 2) a place or state of temporary suffering or misery (the return trip was absolute...) I'm not really sure who actually originated this concept (593 AD) but it seems the biggest proponent at least to the secular world was John Milton. He wrote "Paradise Lost" and made this concept rather famous, 1667 AD. Of course all of this is in direct contradiction to God's Word. I can think of two scriptures that clearly teach against this concept. Heb 9:24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 AND AS IT IS APPOINTED FOR MEN TO DIE ONCE, BUT AFTER THIS THE JUDGMENT, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. (All caps above done for emphasis.) Jesus parable about Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16. There Jesus emphasizes the gulf separating the rich man so he could get no relief. Jesus depiction of hell here is simply scary with no chance of escape. Surely, if there were the slightest way of getting out of such a place our Lord, as compassionate as He was would have mentioned it. This idea of purgatory was probably someone's attempt to satisfy some rich person on his death bed after a life of many wrongs and leaving God out of life. In exchange he probably left his wealth to the church. Go with God in all things my dear friend, Bill |
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4 | who was the first person jesus saved? | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230649 | ||
Good answer Beja. I'm only guessing Patorsma is asking if Jesus actually saved anyone during his 3 and 1/2 year ministry while here on earth. His main purpose and top priority as directed by His Father was to be the Perfect Sacrifice for all mankind and give us all the opportunity to be saved, as reflected by Beja. So the only person who would really qualify to the assumed stipulations mentioned above would have to be the thief on the cross. He was the only one who had actual assurance from Jesus Himself before He died that he too would "join Him in Paradise." Interesting question. Go with God in all things. Bill |
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5 | Hezekiah | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230657 | ||
life, I'd like to assume you're "brand spanking new" to the concept of being a Bible student. I've been a Bible student for a long time and I really do appreciate a little humor now and again but these two questions of yours are rather too much for most people's taste for us serious Bible students. So I'm going to assume from the newness of your registration that you just didn't know any better. Both of these questions can easily be answered with just a little bit of Bible study. So why don't you do that and come back to us with the answers AND some more really challenging questions. I and everyone else will really appreciate it. I really do hope to see some more mature questions from you, my dear friend. Go with God in all things. Bill |
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6 | right type of bible to use | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230685 | ||
I have found through much experience in my personal study and in teaching Bible class that it's best NOT to develop too much of an addiction to any one version as they are all compiled and interpreted by men. We humans are inclined to mistakes. Don't get me wrong; God's Word is Absolutely Inerrant and Perfect but that was the autograph edition which didn't survive the 1st century and for good reason. Can you imagine if we really did have an actual autograph edition of the very first few copies of God's Word? First of all, they would turn into icons of worship, taking our focus off our Lord and Creator. Second it would require all of us to learn ancient Koine Greek. Anyway, through the ages the Bible needed to be updated to become readable to all mankind thus the hundreds of versions and the sub-versions. I've found it's best to pick out several of the best, the most reliable ones with the widest reputation of acceptability within the scholarly community and use those for both personal study and leading a class. My favorites are the NKJV and the NASB. I also have NIV but it does have a couple of problems but it's so easy to read. So again appreciate each version for its own strengths and beware each of its weaknesses. Then you'll be prepared to handle the tough questions when someone brings up somthing "misinterpreted" by a particular version. (This also will minimize embarrassing apoligies after finding out your mistake because of your version with that misintertation. Yeah, been there and done that.) It's also ideal to have someone in the congregation who has studied the original Greek version so you can settle some of your worst arguments with someone who's particularly stubborn on one or more issues. Go with God in all things, Bill PS: I really should explain "sub-versions" above. By that I mean the ones we as serious Bible students should discard, i.e. The Living Bible and other so-called "paraphrase" versions. Another hint I didn't make clear: It's NOT a good idea to buy the latest, neat-looking Bible with all those "great" helps. I did it and learned to regret spending so much money. Now that version sits in my library shelf not used so much. Just another bit of advice from us graduates of the School of Hard Knocks. |
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7 | Can a believer be demon possessed? | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230694 | ||
CDBJ's answer is quite good. Just thought I add another thought. In addition, I've been taught the devil and his demons have been restricted by God during this Christian Dispensation as reflected in... Rev 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. So yes indeed our God has imprisoned Satan for a little while but we should devote ourselves as shown in... Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Go with God in all things, Bill |
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8 | How do I control my emotions for betraya | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230695 | ||
In addition to CDBJ's good answer, I can offer one more bit of guidance and refer you to the way Jesus responded to His betrayal. We all remember the story of Judas' betrayal kiss and Jesus' horrible mockery of a trial with the resulting execution, history's most gruesome and painful way to die. But my point is He took it all in with complete submission to His Father. What is my point to you? Now that your whole congregation knows about the goings-on of this errant person, I'm sure the true christians in your group will treat the person with the right amount of love so as to aim for their repentance. That love might have to be "tough love" and mean a reasonable amount of distrust and caution when it comes to all relationships. BUT the most important point is this all MUST be done with love toward their coming back to the Lord in repentance. If it helps re-read the whole story of Jesus and His Journey to the Cross. None of us have a reason to complain. Just my thoughts. Go with God in all things, Bill |
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9 | who was the first person jesus saved? | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230699 | ||
MJH, I'm afraid I would have to disagree as even in the case of the secular and objective world of "Wikipedia" the definition of salvation is pretty clear as follows... Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or "redemption" from sin and its effects. Salvation is a concept common to most of the world's great religions and is in many respects the principal goal of religious practice. Depending on the religious tradition, salvation is considered to be caused either by the free will and grace of God (Theistic religion) or by personal responsibility and self-effort (e.g. the sramanic and yogic traditions of India). Religions often emphasize the necessity of both personal effort (e.g. repentance and asceticism) and divine action. And since we're on a Bible Study Forum with participation with serious Bible students, I would further state that we all agree salvation from God Almighty is only available through one single avenue as stated by Jesus Himself... Jn 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Now true enough Jesus did heal a multitude of folks with many different and varied problems, including diseses and demons. But if I remember correctly, He only said those "magic words" indicating being saved to the thief on the cross (and him only)... Lk 23:43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Can you tell me the Bible scripture that would indicate an alternate definition of salvation? And remember now, we are talking about those whom Jesus saved. Please advise and go with God in all things. Bill |
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10 | threats | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230771 | ||
There seems to be a sudden popularity of classes starting on Bible trivia. That's what this is all about, right? If not all of you really need to devote some more time to studying God's Word yourselves and come back to with more challenging questions. Also for those of you that are doing this trivia business and/or homework for classes, biblegateway.com is a great help for this kind of curiosity. Go with God in all things and He will bless you. Bill |
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11 | Why am I not hearing from God | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230772 | ||
In addition to Tim's good answer, I would refer you to the wisdom of Joseph. Gen 50:19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. BUT the number one requirement of a relationship with God is like Tim mentioned, we MUST read and attempt to understand what God is saying to us in His Word. It is the only way God communicates to us in this the last and final Dispensation of Christianity. Now you may be confusing one or more of God's Reponses to your prayers: Yes, No or... Your number one source for answers from God is like I mentioned above from His Word. But another answer that so many don't want is the idea of waiting on God's Timetable as alluded to by Garth Brooks' song about going back to his high-school reunion. (I forget the title.) Go with God and wait for His Guidance in your life and you'll be blessed. Bill |
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12 | how is the bible divided | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230834 | ||
Ashanti, Azure makes a good point to you with his request for more information. I assume you're talking about something more than just the division of the Old Testament from the New Testament. Then there's the books spanning 1600 years of writing from authors spanning every occupation you can think of, at least back then. Then there's the division of the chapters and verses which happened separately and didn't happen until just a few centuries ago. So what exactly are you asking? Please be specific. Thanks in advance and as always, Go with God in all things and He will Bless you. Bill |
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13 | how is the bible divided | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230868 | ||
Ashanti, There is a traditional manner of dividing the Bible, grouping the books by topic, both the OT and NT. I can provide if that is type for which you're looking. If on the other hand, you're interested in the background (when and by whom) on the division of chapters and verses, that will take a little more research but that too can be done. Please advise. Go with God in all things. Bill |
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14 | How many chapters are in the bible? | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230871 | ||
From Wikipedia: "There are 929 chapters in the Old Testament and 260 chapters in the New Testament. This gives a total of 1,189 chapters." Go with God in all things. Bill |
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15 | how is the bible divided | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 230880 | ||
The first 5 books of the OT is known as the Pentatuch. The next 12 books are known as the History Section. Next is the 5 books of Poetry and Wisdom. Most of were written by Solomon. The next section of 5 books are known as the Major Prophets, not because of their superiority over the next section but most probably because of their size. The last section in the OT is the 12 books of the Minor Prophets. In the NT, the first 4 books are known as the Gospels as they tell the Good News of Jesus Christ, His Life, Ministry, Death, Burial and Ressurection. The next is the one single book of History for the NT. Next are all the 21 epistles (letters) written mostly by the Apostles; Paul wrote 13 of them himself. The last book is known as the book of Prophecy as it tell of many events in the future from the perspective of the 1st century. In the case of dividing up the Bible into chapters and verses, it's helpful to remember the writers of the Hebrew and Greek world didn't use caapitalization, punctuation or even a way of ending sentences as we do today. So it took someone who knew Koine Greek to understand the meaning and intent of the 1st century writers. The writers of the ancient world would take up many scrolls, mostly made of vellum, a document made of animal tissues. Sometimes it would take many, many scrolls, expecially on the long books like in the Pentatuch. Also they didn't divide their scrolls into chapters and verses we take so much for granted in today's modern world of quick and easy references. I discovered this section of Wikipedia which is most helpful about this latter innovation, which happened in different centuries. Chapters The original manuscripts did not contain the chapter and verse divisions in the numbered form familiar to modern readers. Some portions of the original Hebrew texts were logically divided into parts following the Hebrew alphabet;[citation needed] for instance, the earliest known copies of the Book of Isaiah use Hebrew letters for paragraph divisions. (This was different from the acrostic structure of certain texts following the Hebrew alphabet, such as Psalm 119 and most of the Book of Lamentations.) There are other divisions from various sources which are different from what we use today. The Hebrew Bible began to be put into sections before the Babylonian Captivity (586 BC)[citation needed] with the five books of Moses being put into a 154-section reading program to be used in a three-year cycle. Later (before 536 BC[citation needed]) the Law was put into 54 sections and 669 sub-divisions for reading. By the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, the New Testament had been divided into paragraphs, although the divisions were different from the modern Bible. Archbishop Stephen Langton and Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro developed different schemas for systematic division of the Bible in the early 13th century. It is the system of Archbishop Langton on which the modern chapter divisions are based. Verses For at least a thousand years the Tanakh has contained an extensive system of multiple levels of section, paragraph, and phrasal divisions that were indicated in Masoretic vocalization and cantillation markings.[citation needed] One of the most frequent of these was a special type of punctuation, the sof passuq, symbol for a full stop or sentence break, resembling the colon (:) of English and Latin orthography. With the advent of the printing press and the translation of the Bible into English, Old Testament versifications were made that correspond predominantly with the existing Hebrew full stops, with a few isolated exceptions. A product of meticulous labour and unwearying attention, the Old Testament verse divisions stand today in essentially the same places as they have been passed down since antiquity. Most attribute these to Rabbi Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus's work for the first Hebrew Bible concordance around 1440.[2] The first person to divide New Testament chapters into verses was Italian Dominican biblical scholar Santi Pagnini (1470–1541), but his system was never widely adopted. Robert Estienne created an alternate numbering in his 1551 edition of the Greek New Testament which was also used in his 1553 publication of the Bible in French. Estienne's system of division was widely adopted, and it is this system which is found in almost all modern bibles. The first English New Testament to use the verse divisions was a 1557 translation by William Whittingham (c. 1524-1579). The first Bible in English to use both chapters and verses was the Geneva Bible published shortly afterwards in 1560. These verse divisions soon gained acceptance as a standard way to notate verses, and have since been used in nearly all English Bibles and the vast majority of those in other languages. End of article from Wikipedia. Hope this helps and Go with God in all things. Bill |
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16 | Who told the people not to drink water | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 231006 | ||
There are many such passages in the Bible; I found 20 of them when I inserted the words "not drink water" in the Search Engine of my online version of the the Bible, BibleGateway. It's difficult to know the one to which you're referring. Do you have anything more to help pinpoint the passage? Go with God in all things, Bill |
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17 | Law suite | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 231034 | ||
Since you haven't responded with any details as Brad requested, I can only think to refer you to Paul's Guidance in 1 Cor 6. The most powerful and challenging verse to live up to is... 1 Cor 6:7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? The most important item to remember is to NOT embarrass the church or make our Saviour ashamed of our behavior, especially in front of the sinful world. Now true enough, you could bring the matter to those wise and mature in your congregation to make such decisions. But it doesn't do the church any good to "air our dirty laundry" in front of the world and bring shame and reproach on His Bride. I know this is tough to do as I've been there but it's better than the alternative. Go with God in all things, Bill |
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18 | Hezekiah | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 231035 | ||
Hezekiah's reign starts in 2 Kings 18 and his story goes on through 2 Chronicles and is wrapped up in Isaiah. You only have to insert his name into your Search Engine to the right of your screen and you find his story in full. I'm afraid Hezekiah only has a book in the imagination world of those who don't know their Bible very well. Go with God in all things, study His Word and you'll be Blessed, Bill |
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19 | is your soul saved | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 231036 | ||
I can only respond with scripture. Matt 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Go with God in all things, Bill |
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20 | who saved 3000 on pentecost? | Bible general Archive 4 | Bill Richardson | 231037 | ||
If you're really interested in the person who preached that first Gospel sermon, you'll find the story in the Book of Acts, starting Chapter 1. It's a great story; I love to re-read it time and again. Go with God in all things, Bill |
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